Maryam Bostanara, PhD candidate
Maryam Bostanara
PhD Candidate
Domestic student originally form Iran
Supervisor: Associate Professor Taha Hossein Rashidi
Co-supervisors: Dr Clara Grazian and Dr Ali Najmi
Areas of Interest:
- Understanding households’ behaviour dynamics
- Data analysis
- Machine learning
- Statistical modelling
- Optimisation research
Currently, I am investigating the dynamics of behaviour of people, especially in the field of behavioural land use. I am studying households’ behaviour on durable products such as home and vehicle. In our last study, my colleagues and I modelled households’ residential relocation timing considering impact of life-course variables, using a Bayesian parametric survival analysis. I aim to develop a framework for the behavioural modelling structure. The objective of such a framework is to understand how people make decisions about durable products and how these decisions are affected by dynamics of their intra-household, social, and environmental attributes. This research will generate new knowledge about the dynamics of behaviour of people. Such knowledge can contribute to better planning and analysing transport systems and sustainable cities.
In this project, multiple theoretical methods will be applied to the transport behavioural studies field, which is what attracts me to this field of study. In fact, I am interested in applying theoretical approaches to real-world problems.
I am proud of studying in one of the world-class Civil Engineering schools and top transport research centres, rCITI. I am also proud of the collaborations I have had during my research journey resulted in one published article and one under review manuscript. The hardship of publishing journal articles has taught me the greatest lesson I learnt during my research career—it is not all about knowledge!
Although my background is engineering, I am also into art—I am a casual artist! I do calligraphy and digital painting at my free time. The art of living induces that the first step toward understanding the world is understanding yourself, which is literally the best piece of advice I have ever been given. In the future, I would love to make the world a better place to live.
Contact details: m.bostanara@unsw.edu.au
